X3TC Destroying a target ships internal defenses? (Orca PHQ mission)

The Iron Duke · Post by **The Iron Duke** » Sun, 5. Oct 14, 17:29

Have searched the forum but with little definitive answers. I'm trying board the Orca in the PHQ mission. It has 11 variously trained marines and 1 internal defense laser.
A few questions arise:
What is the most effective way/weapon to destroy the internal defenses. I've been sat alongside it for 20 minutes with Ion Ds there
appears no degradation in the internal equipment, I assume. How can you tell? You can't re-scan so does the equipment just disappear from the freight menu. Can I board without bothering, using sufficient marines? Have tried with 10 mid trained. They all die.
Advise would be good please.

The Iron Duke · Post by **The Iron Duke** » Sun, 5. Oct 14, 17:37

Sorry . The game is X3TC. V2.1

Black_hole_suN · Post by **Black_hole_suN** » Sun, 5. Oct 14, 18:10

First of all, Why are you still playing 2.1?? the latest patch for X3TC is up to 3.2 now and is available for download on the Egosoft Homepage

Second, That particular Orca is part of a plot and its hull will not drop below 93%... To successfully strip it of its internal defenses what you can do is to IonD it all the way to 93% hull and reload if the internal defence is not fried... keep reloading until you can fry its defenses[/i]

The Iron Duke · Post by **The Iron Duke** » Sun, 5. Oct 14, 21:18

1. I play 2.1 because I choose to. It's suits my game play better.
2. Correct. The hull drops to 93% very quickly, but after 20 mins of Ion Ds, hull at 93%, no change in the freight manifest. Reload what? A save and reload takes us to the same situation. Which get us back to the original questions.
How is the degradation of internal hardware shown, as you can only scan once.
Are there more effective weapons? Will marines alone suffice in sufficient numbers?

ancienthighway · Post by **ancienthighway** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 07:14

Save the game before starting the attack on the Orca using the Ion Disruptors. Reload if you don't destroy the internal defenses. After scanning, you can then check the freight carried by the Orca to check on the defenses.

It will take a lot of marines with high fight skills to capture the ship if the ISL is present. The firewall needs many marines with high hacking skills. The hull polarizing device will need high engineer or mechanical skills. High casualty rates make boarding with any of those defenses undesirable.

The Iron Duke · Post by **The Iron Duke** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 16:18

Thanks for that . Alas I have no options. The original point where I first encountered the Orca has been 'saved' over so I'm stuck with it.
Anybody know if the internal defenses of a 'plot' ship can be degraded, bearing in mind the shields never drop below 93%.
And how many marines it is likely to take to overcome the ISL and 11 partially trained marines on board?
The plan is to IRE the ship, if the internals will respond to that, and 'train up' 15 marines to 5* 100% in all fields. Can't see any other way.

Post by **Nanook** » Mon, 6. Oct 14, 23:30

The Iron Duke wrote:...
Anybody know if the internal defenses of a 'plot' ship can be degraded, bearing in mind the shields never drop below 93%....

No, they can't (and it's the hull that never gets below 93%, not the shields).

If you attack with 20 maxed marines, those extra defenses won't be a problem.

The Iron Duke · Post by **The Iron Duke** » Tue, 7. Oct 14, 17:06

Thanks for that Nanook. Long dark nights of marine training begin.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Tue, 7. Oct 14, 23:11

The other approach is to sic a bunch of mk 1 drones on it, then hop out and shoot it with your repair laser. As you do repairs, the drones will continuously knock it back down to 93% again allowing more chances to damage equipment.

Having a full set of 20 marines will still help more than anything else you might do, though.

Post by **Geek** » Fri, 10. Oct 14, 22:41

It does not matter.
As said Nanook, the equipement on invincible ships can not be destroyed at all.

jorganos · Post by **jorganos** » Sat, 11. Oct 14, 16:19

On boarding missions without a time limit (e.g. the Goner True Light Seeker) you can always send teams of numpties (untrained, cheap marines) in to exterminate defending marines. After an initial expense of 50MCr, you'll get such volunteers for free.

For combat training, the Return Ship missions for M6 or M7 are great, too - if you intend to keep the ship, use marines high in mechanics and engineering. Cargo Life Support is free, too.

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X3TC Destroying a target ships internal defenses? (Orca PHQ mission)

X3TC Destroying a target ships internal defenses? (Orca PHQ mission)